Drawer.



1.' D. HARNESBERGER.

DRAWER.

APPLICATION FiLED JAN.20, I9l6.

l 204,568. Patented Nov. i4; 1916.

JABEZ D. HARNESBERGER, 'or ATLANTA, GEORGIA.

DRAWER.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Nov. 14, 1916.

Application led January 20, 1916. Serial No. 73,232.

To all 'whom t may concern Be it known that I, JABEZ D. HARNES- BERGER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Atlanta, in the county of Fulton and State of Georgia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Drawers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to furniture, and more especially to drawers; and the object of the same'is to produce a drawer which is subdivided into a number of individual trays for purposes which will be explained, and to so mount and connect these trays that they are all withdrawn from the rack or casing simultaneously and may all be returned simultaneously, or they may bereturned one by one, beginning with the uppermost of the group.

Details will be found in the following specication and claims, and reference is made to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a rack, here shown as containing two of my improved drawers, or in other words two sets of trays. Theuppermost is housed and the lowermost withdrawn, and the two upper trays in the lowermost set are pushed part way back. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same, and a horizontal section through the rack. This view shows in plan one form of handle mechanism which may be employed for withdrawing a drawer. Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical cross section through the rack, and a rear elevation of one set`of trays, being taken on about the line 3--3 of Fig. 2. Figs. 4 and 5 are enlarged perspective details of the front and rear corners respectively of one of the upper trays.

The casing for containing drawers such as described below may be of sheet metal. Each 'side is composed of a number of slats 1 with interposed slots 2, the latter being produced by suitably cutting into the side wall of the casing and turning down-the cut-out portions so as to produce horizontal guides 3 whereof one stands along the upper edge of each slat and projects inward as best seen in Fig. 3. The ends of the slats merge into upright strips 4 and 5 at front and rear, and the rear strips are bent at right angles into rear flanges 6 as seen in Fig. 2, This casing as a whole constitutes a rack 7, which term is employed to designate the corresponding element '1n a co-pending application No. 64,321, filed by me on November 30th, 1915, for improvements in file cabinets, in which case the entire rack moves vertically and carries with it the drawers; but for the purpose of` the present application this rack may be stationary.

Each drawer-,designated broadly by the numeral l0, is illustrated herein as made up of three trays whereof the lowermost 11 is of one construction and those above it 1l 11 are of a slightly different construction but are alike. Obviously these upper trays could be more or less than two in number, but for the purposes of illustration a group of three trays will constitute one drawer 10. The lower tray has upright side rails 12 vslidably mounted within the rack andrestf ing upon its bottom or upon a pair of guides I 3, a rearrail of any suitable constructionconnecting said side rails forward of their rear extremities, and a front rail 13 which has an upstanding rib 14 rising above the level of the upper edges of the other rails v and beveled on its inner side as best seen in Fig. 1; and this tray has a closed bottom and may be internally divided into compartments according to its use. The next tray 11 has side rails 12 which are continued beyond its rear rail (see Fig. 5) into projections or stops v15, and the depth of the body of this tray 11, from front to rear, is the same as that of the lowermost tray 11. The side rail and its stop slide on the guide 3 next above that on which the lower tray slides, and when both trays are housed within the rack they are supported individually by the guides, whereas when bothare withdrawn the upper tray rests on the lower. The front rail 13 lof the tray 11 has an upstanding beveled rib .14 but in they lower edge of this rail is a groove 16 adapted to receive and interengage with the Arib 14 of the lower tray. The tray 11 next above is a duplicate of the tray 11 and so on, in case there are more than two of the upper trays. All of them have bottoms, and may be internally divided and subdivided according to the use to which they are to be put.

' No tray has any handle but the lowermost. A simple form of said handle is indicated at 33 in Fig. 1 as applied to the uppermost drawer therein shown as housed within the rack. In. @gesessen with the lowermost drawer in this view, and also in Fig. 2, I have shown the handle 23 as part of a frame 20 whose construction and operation are or may be the same as that described in my companion application above referred to. For the purposes of the present case, however, it will be suiiicient to say that this frame comprises side bars 21 and 22 connected by a front bar 24 which carries the handle 23, some form of guides rindicated at 25 on which the side bars move, and lugs 30 on the inner faces of said side bars near their rear ends. Lugs 31 project from the outer faces of the side rails of the lower tray, and extend through the slots 2 in ,the rack 7, and these lugs 31 limit the forward movement of the lowermost tray 11 but stand always forward of the lugs 30 on the frame 20. Therefore it will be clear that the entire rack might be moved vertically by means forming no part of the present invention, so that any pair of lugs 31 and therefore any drawer 10 would come opposite the pair of lugs 30, after which forward movement of the frame 20 by means of its handle 23 would withdraw the desired drawer. Such withdrawal is effected by the lugs 30 engaging behind the lugs 81 and carrying them forward in the slots 2, thus projecting the tray 11 as seen in Fig. 1 until the lugs 31 strike the front strips 4. To permit the restoration of this tray to its housed position it is only necessary that the frame 20 move to the rear, and such movement may be eected mechanically as in my companion application, or by pushing the frame rearward by means of its handle 23.

By increasing or decreasing the number of the upper trays and adapting them in size and depth and subdivision, the invention may become useful imder a great variety of conditions, but it is necessary only to describe one way in which it is successfully employed. Let us assume that this drawer composed of nested trays, each subdivided into compartments, is to be used for keeping accounts, and let us also assume that it is the 'drawer having M7 as its index letter. Now when the bookkeeper wants to find the account of a certain person whose name begins with M, he withdraws that drawer by pulling on either handle mechanism described. With the lowermost or main tray come out all the upper trays, because the groove 16 of each interengages with the rib immediately beneath it. This exposes the compartments in the uppermost tray, and they may contain the accounts of customers named Martin, Mason, andothers beginning with ll/Ia. He grasps the front of the uppermost tray, lifts its slightly, and pushes it to the rear. This exposes the next tray whose compartments may contain-the accounts of customers named Meeks, Melton, etc. I-Ie repeats the operation by pushing in the second tray 11 and this exposes the lowermost tray, and therein he may find Mitchell, and Monroe whom we will assume he is seeking. Having added to Mr. Monroes account or taken from it as the case may be, shoves in the main tray 11, and the M drawer is housed. When the uppermost tray 11 was shoved in, the tips of its stops 15 struck the flanges 6, as also did the stops of the next tray 11 when that was pushed in-thus preventing these trays being pushed through the rack or too far to the rear; whereas the side rails 12 of the main tray 11 act as stops and strike the rear strips 5 when this tray is pushed completely in. The function of these stops is therefore to bring all trays to rest at the same point, because as each is pushed into the rack the beveled inner side of its rib 11i must raise the tray above and automatically interengage with the groove 16 therein. When the main tray is drawn outward by the handle, such interengagement causes all trays to move outward with it.

In Fig. 3 the uppermost tray 11 is shown as having a pair of fingers 1S depending from its rear end across the rear rail of the next tray .11 and thelatter as having a pair of fingers 17 similarly depending across the rear rail of the main tray' 11. It may some times happen that a careless or hurried user will not push one of the upper trays all the way to the rear when he` restores it to the rack as above described. If so, the presence of these fingers becomes important when the lowermost or main tray is housed. In its movement to the rear it strikes the fingers 17 and carries v:

the tray 11 along to the rear with it whatever the position of this tray, and this tray in turn strikes the fingers 18 and carries the tray 11 with it whatever the position of this tray. Furthermore, the use of these fingers prevents the withdrawing of any of the upper trays from the rack, because they cannot be disengaged from the main tray 11, and the latter cannot be disengaged from the rack because of its lugs 31. use the lingers 17 and `18 in connection with my invention for the reasons just stated. The trays may be of metal for economy of space and strength of parts, but I do not, wish to be limited in this respect.

That I claim is:

r1. The herein describedV drawer comprising a series of superimposed trays, means for manipulating the lowermost, andprorails of said trays normally engaging each other by gravity so that the upper trays are moved out and in by the movements of the lowermost.

2. The Aherein described drawer compris- I prefer to T Vject'ions on and depressions in the front ing a series of superimposed trays, means for manipulating the lowermost, and a rib rising from the front rail of each tray, the upper trays being grooved so as to normally engage the ribs of those beneath them, for the purpose set forth.

3. The herein described drawer comprising a series of superimposed trays, means for manipulating the lowermost, and a rib rising from the front rail of every tray to a point higher than the upper edges of its side rails and beveled on its inner face, the lower edges of the front rails of all trays but the lowermost being grooved to automatically engage the ribs of those beneath by gravity, as described.

il. The herein described drawer comprising a series of superimposed trays adapted to move on guides interposed between their side rails, means for moving the lowermost tray, means whereby the forward portions of said trays interengage by gravity so that the upper trays are moved out and in by the movements of the lowermost but may be manually disengaged, and means whereby any tray when moved to the rear will positively engage and carry with it the one above.

The herein described drawer comprising a series of superimposed trays adapted to move on guides interposed between their side rails, means for manually moving the lowermost tray, means whereby the forward portions of said trays interengage each other by gravity, and fingers secured to the rear rail of each tray and overhanging the rear rail of the tray next beneath, for the purpose set forth.

6. The combination with a rack having longitudinal slots in its sides, upright inturned flanges at their rear ends, and internal superimposed guides; of a drawer comprising a series of superimposed trays whose side rails move on said guides, lugs on the lowermost tray projecting through said slots for limiting its movements, and stops projecting to the rear from the other trays and adapted to strike said flanges for limiting their rearward movement.

7. The combination with a rack having longitudinal slots in its sides, upright inturned anges at their rear ends, and internal superimposed guides; of a drawer comprising a series of superimposed trays whose side rails move on said guides, lugs Copies of this patent may. be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the on the lowermost tray projecting through said slots for limiting its movements, stops projecting to the rear from the other trays and adapted to strike said flanges for limiting their rearward movement, and means whereby any tray when moved t0 the rear will carry with it the one above.

8. The combination with a rack having longitudinal slots in its sides, upright inturned flanges at their rear edges, and internal superimposed guides; of a drawer comprising a series of superimposed trays whose side rails move on said guides, lugs on the lowermost tray projecting through said slots for limiting its movements, stops projecting to the rear from the other trays and adapted to strike said flanges for limiting their rearward movement, means whereby the forward portions of the trays normally engage each other, anid means whereby any tray when disengaged and moved to the rear will carry with it the one above.

9. The combination with a rack having longitudinal slots in its sides, and internal superimposed guides; of a drawer compris- `ing a series of superimposed trays whose side rails move on said guides, lugs on the lowermost tray projecting through said slots for limiting its movements, projections on and depressions in the front rails of Vsaid trays normally engaging each other by gravity so that the upper trays are moved out and in by the movements of the lowermost, and means whereby any tray when disengaged and moved to the rear will carry with it the one above.

10. The combination with a rack having slots along its sides, and internal superimposed guides; of a drawer comprising a series of superimposed trays whose side rails move on said guides, lugs .on the lowermost tray projecting through said slots for limiting its movements, projections on and depressions in the front rails of said trays normally engaging each other, and ngers depending from the rear rail of each tray across in rear of the rear rail of the tray next beneath, for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I afliX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

' JABEZ D. HARNESBERGER.

Vitnesses:

W. Gr. W. ESTY, J. C. KING.

Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. C. 

